Sunday, 31 July 2011

“This land holds historical and spiritual significance for the Dene Suline people. This is the area where we hold ceremony, where we gather berries and traditional medicines, it holds the grave sites of my ancestors and archaeological artefacts that date back over 4,000 years. That is worth far more than an RV park,” said Dene Suline and peace camp member Carrie Lawrence. “We have erected this peace camp to ensure we can continue to practice our spiritual, cultural and treaty rights. Right’s are more important than RV’s. ...

“We call on the Government of Alberta to respect the rights and requests of the Dene Suline people,” asserted Lawrence. “Many of us are willing to risk arrest to peacefully protect our traditional territory and the rights of the Dene Suline people but we wish the government would just listen to reason and put this RV camp somewhere else.”

The contested campground has existed since the 1950s, but the provincial government began work on expanding and redeveloping the area in 2006. The original redevelopment was stopped soon after it began, when historical artifacts were found.

The redevelopment was on hold until earlier this year, when Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation got the go-ahead to continue.

“This is the area where we hold ceremony, where we gather berries and traditional medicines, it holds the grave sites of my ancestors. That is worth far more than an RV park,” Lawrence said.

Your brother wanted to mount a parade, to sing out to all of our waiting neighbours: a child is born.

A community gives birth to itself, and we rest in its arms.

~ from Homebirth, Joanne Arnott

Elijah Harper & (baby) Harper Campbell*

The night was beautiful. There were these things in the sea called "phospheresences" that glowed and sparkled if you agitated the water. And the sky was so filled with stars! At around one I walked back with my co-worker who I had come to know better over the course of the night. It is so beautiful, to walk in silence in the depth of night, tall sillhouettes of trees and expansive darkness.

From the source website:*Free Running GazaFilmmakers: George Azar and Mariam Shahin

In the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza, Mohammed and Abdallah have found a way to distract themselves from the overcrowded tenements and squalid alleyways. Both young men have trained for years to become Gaza's leading practitioners of parkour.

As much a life philosophy and an art form as an athletic discipline, parkour is the traversing and scaling of obstacles and barriers through running, jumping and vaulting. Parkour is set apart from political and religious factionalism, from violence and militancy.

For Mohammed, Abdallah and the latest generation of young Palestinians to have grown up in the camp under-educated and unemployed, it is the ultimate means of escape.

The essential definition of parkour is "finding your own way" and Artscape journeys around Gaza in the company of Mohammed and Abdallah to experience what this is like.

"When we practise [parkour] we free ourselves," explains Mohammed. "It is as if we're transported to another world."

Sunday, 3 July 2011

"There is an unwritten rule that Aboriginal people in Canada should not take our grievances with Canada outside of national borders. Most of us have grown up to respect the principle of "keeping it in the family," so to speak. Voluntarily agreeing to not think and act internationally creates boundaries that restrict our own understanding of colonialism and the political mechanics that continue to undermine Aboriginal self-determination. Ignoring the suffering that colonialism brings to others will only prolong our own.

"This month, I will be joining the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, an international fleet of seven ships delivering food, construction and medical supplies to the besieged people of Palestine. I am not going as a representative of my First Nation community or any organization. This was a personal decision after discussion with and support from my family. We recognize that the people of Palestine have been subjected to colonization in the same way that Indigenous people here have lost their relationship with the land. Gaza has become an open-air prison for 1.4 million people. It is the largest "Reserve" in the world. Finding solutions and reconciliation begins by getting involved...."

From Greece: "This afternoon one of the Ausies and I got a kayak and paddled out of the harbour with a box of medicine toward Gaza. It was an opportunity to test the Harbour police and Coast guard and give the press something to do. There was almost no reaction from the Harbour police but lots of photos for the international press. It is really important for people in Canada and the world to protest the delay of the the Freedom Flotilla."~ Bob Lovelace, Decolonization Blog

Compassion: An Anthology in Support of the People of Gaza & Occupied Palestine

Extended deadline September 1 2011

You are invited to contribute poems, essays, stories, songs, comix, whatever short form you like, to an anthology gathered in support of the people of Gaza and Occupied Palestine. This project is intended to share information about the situation of the people of Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, both directly and through exploring the parallel situations and experiences of other people and nations.

Please send up to three pages of work, in any genre. For longer work, please submit an excerpt of three pages, with a description of the full work including number of pages. An abstract is also acceptable.

Our intent in pursuing this project is to relieve the sense of isolation and neglect that results from the long term and increasingly brutal conduct "for security reasons" that the people of Gaza endure.

The creation of a new homeland on an existing homeland has parallels in many different lands. We invite you to share work that explores your experiences and responses.